Allergies and a Harp
by Maelstra
Summary: Kain decides he needs to go on a solitary quest to redeem himself. Sadly, it is not feasible for him to complete alone. Luckily?unluckily? for him, Cecil decides to help out anyway...
1. Looking Over the Past

_**(edit 7/7/07)** I tried to reread this story, and could barely get through the first chapter. I couldn't stand it! So, I rewrote it (chapter 1) completely. The plot's the same, it's just . . . better. I hope. I'd love it if you'd let me know what you think. I'm thinking of going over chapters 2-4 again, too. So, if there's something you'd really like me to fix, now's the time to let me know:) **(/edit)**_

_I don't own FFIV, alas. This story is a collection of many relatively short chapters – a bit of an experiment, if you will – although the later chapters do get progressively longer. Oh well. I hope you enjoy. _

_Thank you to all those who have reviewed. And now, without further ado, it begins._

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**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**1 - Looking Over the Past **

The sun was just rising. Kain took a strong stance and watched the display of pink and yellow lighting playing across the few distant clouds as the sky lightened. He seldom watched the sun rise – it was a daily occurrence, after all, and usually not noteworthy – but today he found he appreciated the inherent symbolism in it all. Rebirth. Transition from darkness to light. These were the very things he had set out into the world in search of. He'd chased down several mad leads already, and now, here he was, on top of Mount Ordeals at sunrise, in the midst of his maddest attempt yet to search out some means of recovering his lost honor.

Another skeletal zombie tried to sneak up from behind, but luckily for Kain the wind calmed down just enough at that moment for him to hear its rattle-ly approach. He jumped down from his ledge, and brought his fists down in unison on the blackened skull. The impact shattered enough of the monster's remaining bones that it was left in a heap, hissing helplessly at the dragoon.

Kain wiped his hands on his pants, counting himself lucky. He presently wore no more armor than a plain tunic and cloak, and even a minor hit from a monster would do him serious injury. A part of him chid himself again for such foolish behavior, but he had made up his mind before he had even left Baron. _Since I came of age, I wore my father's armor to inspire myself to be a great dragoon, like he was. To continue to wear his armor after all that has happened . . . would only be a disgrace to my father's name. _Nevertheless, Kain did carry both the armor, and the Holy Lance that the Lunarians had given to him, in a carryall bag he had appropriated on his way out of Baron. _I just need to complete whatever trial awaits me on the top of this mountain. And then I will be worthy to wear the armor again._ Ahead of Kain, a dozen more zombies and other undead things swarmed onto the trail, completely blocking his approach. Kain considered the odds, and considered the possibility of jumping over the monsters' heads to avoid the conflict entirely, but at last gave a sigh and drew out his lance instead.

The decaying monsters disintegrated under his magic-infused weapon. Kain spared one more glance for the sunrise, then started on, seeking for a path that would take him most directly to the peak. Cecil had been very, very sparse in his details of what had happened to him on Mount Ordeals, so Kain was forced to guess. The people of Mysidia (who thankfully had not recognized him) had only given him a few more vague hints about some sort of trial on the mountain that would redeem the otherwise irredeemable. Or else kill them painfully. Some of the Mysidians had still sounded slightly disappointed that Cecil had survived. Kain hoped he would be up to the challenge as well.

Honestly speaking, Kain had been an emotional wreck since Golbez had forcibly reasserted control over his mind in the underworld. When Kain finally faced Cecil again, in the Giant of Babel, he was horribly embarrassed that he had been too weak to resist the mind control, but also worried that that last betrayal had obliterated any chance of Cecil or the others ever trusting him again. He figured he should count himself lucky his friends had been willing to let him then come along to face Zemus, rather than just leaving him tied up, a prisoner on the Lunar Whale.

Kain had experienced some understandable coldness from Cid and Yang – and especially Rosa – the first time he had been freed from Golbez's mind control. But at least Cecil had welcomed him back, no questions asked, all forgiven. This second time was so much worse because no one would stand up for him anymore. Cecil hadn't been openly hostile, of course – but Kain felt like the few conversations his old friend had with him were only filling some personal quota, as in 'talk to Kain at least three times a day to check for hints of further treachery.' The thought was depressing, but Kain did not dare confront Cecil about it lest his suspicions be proven true.

The wind whipped around and threw grit in Kain's face, forcing him to close his eyes, and also drawing his thoughts back to the present. Now – six months later – here he was, running away from the people he wanted most to protect. Assuming he had not completely lost track of the days, by now Cecil and Rosa would be married and acknowledged as the new king and queen over Baron. Kain had to admit, rationally, that Cecil would make an excellent ruler . . . but he was still uncertain of his feelings about Rosa. Though he had known for years that she always preferred Cecil, this marriage . . . well, just the thought of it hurt.

Kain had been invited to the wedding, of course. Cecil and Rosa had discussed their plans (ad nauseum, according to Edge) all the way back from the moon after the brave adventurers had defeated Zeromus. Both Rosa and Cecil had personally invited Kain to the ceremony. He'd thanked them, plastered on a fake smile that could have been carved out of stone . . . and then he'd snuck away the first night they returned to Baron.

From then on, he'd wandered the world as an anonymous traveler, taking any quest he happened to hear of. While the people he helped were certainly grateful, squashing giant spiders and so forth just didn't seem to be enough. But then Kain overheard someone talking about Mount Ordeals, and recalled Cecil's mentioning the place . . .

Kain clambered to the top of another gray, dusty boulder, and noted with surprise that here, there appeared to be an actual trail. He glanced around warily for another ambush, then slowly proceeded ahead. Actually, he was almost as worried that Cecil was going to jump out from behind a rock and ambush him as he was worried about the zombies. In the past, the two had stuck together through all sorts of adventures, and Kain was sure that Cecil would have willingly accompanied him on this quest if Kain had only asked him. But there was a reason that Kain had told no one he was leaving; he wanted to do this himself. He didn't want Mr. Perfect Paladin giving him a hand just in the nick of time. _This is __my__ honor at stake, and so I want to pass the test on __my__ own strength. If I can survive this . . . then maybe there'll be a place for me again, in Baron._

He rounded a corner and ascended a steep rise. At the top of this hill, though not the highest point on the mountain, was a ring of stone pillars that surrounded a carved tablet.

_What's this . . . ?_ Kain lowered his lance to his side and walked forward.


	2. In the Meanwhile

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**2 - In the Meanwhile**

"I can't believe that jerk didn't even show up for the wedding yesterday!"

Cecil sighed at Cid's rampage, but did not comment.

"After all we suffered because of that guy, and everything he owes you . . . !" Cid's face flushed nearly the same color as his beard.

"Cid, please," Rosa smiled sweetly. "It's really okay. Kain just needs some time. Right, Cecil?"

Cid talked right over anything Cecil might have said. "How much time does he need? No one's seen him for over three months! If he wants to disappear into the pits of the Phantom World, that's his business – but, when his old comrade is getting married, the least he could do is show up for a day or two!"

Cecil sighed again, and leaned back in the throne, rubbing his brow. "So, what should I do? Drag him back to the castle? Cid, if he doesn't want to be found . . ."

"He's a dragon knight, sworn to defend Baron! This is cowardly desertion!" Cid stomped back and forth before the thrones. "Look, your majesties. If I decided to just up and disappear, what would you do? Would you just say, 'Oh, well, I guess Cid got tired of Baron. That's too bad,' and then just drop it?"

"Cid . . ." Rosa said warningly.

Cecil stood. "Look, Kain's been through a lot of stress lately, but he's still my friend . . ."

"He's also a dragon knight of Baron!"

Cecil shook his head. "If you're really being technical, Cid, he never swore his fealty to me – only to the previous king." He stood and walked over to look the taller engineer in the eye. "And, you're right, he is also my friend. I do miss him, but I am also going to respect his wishes."

Rosa intervened, trying to smooth things over. "Cecil, you could always ask our friends in the neighboring kingdoms if they've seen him. If there's still no word, we could give Kain a bit more time . . . and then organize a formal search, just to make sure he's not in any trouble."

"That sounds like a good idea," Cecil approved, sighing and trying to smile for his wife's sake.

Cid, his beard still bristling with fury, grumbled poisonously under his breath, then finally growled audibly, "That guy is nothing but trouble! If it makes you happy, though, I'll even help by going to ask the dwarves for you."

"Thank you," Cecil smiled in relief.

"Thank you, Cid," Rosa echoed, in her sweetly, with a graceful wave of her hand. Even when she was being casual, she could look every inch a queen.

"Do you think he's in trouble? I don't want to interfere if he just needs some time alone," Cecil murmured after the loud engineer finally left.

Rosa stood and squeezed his shoulder. "We're still his friends. We're just going to remind him of that. Right?"

" . . . Right."


	3. Defeating the Past

_All formatting here fixed now, I think. Let me know if you catch any more problems. I don't like using bold, but I've really tried everything, and I can't seem to use the brackets. Oh well. I guess it works. If I ever find a way to make it work the way I want it, I'll change it._

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**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**3 - Defeating the Past**

Kain jumped up, high in the air, using his training as a dragoon. With all his strength, he crashed down atop his mirror duplicate, cutting deep with his lance. Kain stepped back, breathing hard, and readied himself for another attack. _I don't understand any of this. What am I supposed to do? _After merely touching the tablet, Kain found himself teleported to this mirrored chamber. By impulse, Kain had walked right up to the mirror and touched that, too. To his surprise, his reflection then stepped right out of the mirror, and began to attack him! Unlike Kain, this reflection still wore the full armor of a dragon knight, with its face hidden underneath the helmet. The whole duration of the fight this dark Kain had not spoken a word.

Just then, the mirror-Kain jumped into the air. Kain jumped as well, trying to get above it, but the mirror-Kain hit him midair, knocking him down prematurely. Then the mirror-Kain copied the attack that Kain had just performed himself, falling from the sky to strike Kain full-force with his dark lance. Kain cried out involuntarily as the mirror-Kain's attack did twice the damage Kain himself was able to inflict.

Once the mirror-Kain retreated back several paces, Kain shakily stood. He lunged forward and struck the mirror-Kain with all the strength he could muster. The mirror-Kain took the attack, apparently unfazed, then again returned the same attack, but once again with twice the force. Kain slid several feet across the floor, then slowly, pushed himself up to his knees. He quickly searched his bag, and came up with a healing potion, which he quickly gulped down. _I used up too many of my supplies on the way up. This one potion isn't strong enough to do much good._

Then, the mirror-Kain again leapt into the air.

_It's so fast!_ Kain tried to stand, to strike the mirror-Kain as it landed, but he was too slow, and it scored another dire hit with its lance.

Kain fell over backwards, his vision going blurry, then completely dark. _I guess . . . I wasn't cut out to be . . . a paladin . . ._ _No! _He blinked, trying to clear his eyes. After a moment, he could barely make out the chamber's ceiling. _I can't give up! I won't lose like this! I've got to survive . . . so I can make things up to Cecil and Rosa . . . and the others . . ._

Slowly, but determinedly, he rolled over onto his right side, then weakly pushed himself into sitting position. He glared at the mirror-Kain. "What is the trick of this battle, anyway!" _If only I'd asked Cecil more about it before I left . . ._

As with the previous times Kain had demanded an explanation, his dark duplicate remained silent.

**Kain **a voice echoed in Kain's mind.

"What?" Kain looked around, trying to see if anyone besides the mirror-Kain was hiding within the chamber. The motion made his head throb and his vision blur again. Regardless, he could see no other persons within the hall. "Great, now I'm hearing voices."

**Kain, I'm sorry to have caused you such pain. **

Kain gasped. _I know that voice! That's . . . Golbez! What's Golbez doing in my head?_

**The spell I cast on you created a connection between our minds. Even now, the connection has not completely faded. **

_Well, that's just great, _Kain thought at Golbez. _So, now what do you want with me?_

**The battle that you fight is not one that you can win . . . **

_What!_

**. . .at least, not with physical weapons. The battle of Mount Ordeals takes place primarily in the mind, and in the heart. **

"The mind . . . and the heart." Kain looked again at the mirror-Kain. "So, are you some manifestation of the darkness in my heart? Or, maybe, my dark past?"

It did not respond, or even move, and merely continued gazing back at Kain.

"I want to give up my dark past." _But, how do I do it? Just thinking it doesn't seem to be enough!_

**Your heart is indeed sufficient to win this fight. But your mind . . . may not be strong enough. If so, that would be my fault. **Golbez's voice paused a moment. **Stand now, Kain, and face your dark self. Let your heart be strong enough to gain your desire. **

Kain let out a loud sigh, not certain he wanted any more of Golbez's "help." Regardless, it seemed like the right thing to do, so he struggled to his feet, using his lance to prop himself up. His vision swum in blackness again as he straightened, but once it cleared, he slowly limped toward the mirror-Kain.

He looked into the visor, trying to make out the other's eyes. It seemed also to be looking straight at him. Slowly, deliberately, it raised its dark lance until it was exactly level with Kain's chest. Tense, but exhausted, Kain waited for the other to make the first move. The mirror-Kain also appeared to be waiting for an action on the other's part. Moments passed. At last, the mirror-Kain lowered its spear, and nodded once at Kain. With no explanation, it vanished before Kain's eyes.

**Well done. Your heart truly is strong – strong enough to overcome the weakness of your mind. **

_Weakness . . . of my mind?_ With the threat removed, Kain's adrenaline was quickly running out. He dropped to his knees, breathing hard. Without meaning to, he released his grip on his lance, and it rolled away from him.

**The first time I exerted my control over you, I easily caught you off-guard. Once my control broke, however, you immediately raised your defenses, determined not to let me control you again. **

_Yeah . . . I remember . . ._ Kain now lay on his left side, too weak to hardly care what Golbez was saying.

**When I took control of your mind the second time, it was different. You resisted me with all your strength and will, but I was more powerful, so I won. In so doing, however, I . . . broke the main defenses of your mind. Your mind is now left vulnerable to any attack. **

Kain closed his eyes, still trying to listen to Golbez, albeit detachedly. _What attacks do you mean?_

**Any creature with the requisite magic can now control your mind. **

_What!_ Kain opened his eyes again, briefly, before again surrendering to his exhaustion. _Is there anything I can do? Will I betray my friends again?_

**The only thing that can restore the strength of your mind is the legendary Harp of Self-Control. If you can play the Song of Strength on this harp, it's power should be sufficient to heal your mind. **

_Harp . . . right . . . gotta get self-control harp and play the strength song . . . I wonder if Edward knows . . . _Kain's thoughts trailed off to silence.

**Kain? Kain! **

Kain snored quietly.

Golbez sighed. **I will send you what power I can. After that, you are on your own. I'm sorry, Kain. I wish I could do more. Farewell. **


	4. Where's Damcyan, Anyway?

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**4 - Where's Damcyan, Anyway?**

Kain came to, an unknown period of time later, lying on his back under the hot, hot sun. "Aaagh!" He sat up quickly, and dug in his bag for an herb that he could put on his sunburned face. _Stupid mountain with no shade! What was I thinking, to . . . Huh?_ Kain's hand bumped his helmet as he smeared plant-goo on his lobster-red face. "When did I put this on?" He glanced at his arms, and finally noticed he was wearing the rest of the armor as well. _What? How did it . . . ? And, why's it so pale?_ Previously, the helmet and armor had been a deep, dark mediterranean blue – now, it had somehow changed to a light, aquamarine. "The armor looks like . . . new. But, how?"

Finally, Kain remembered: mysterious tablet, fighting his mirror-self, Golbez's voice in his head, and a new quest. "I survived! Yeah-hay!" Kain indulged himself by doing a victory sign. He considered a moment. "Does this mean I'm now a Paladin – or Paladin-Dragoon, technically? I guess it did purify my armor and all, just like Cecil. That's pretty cool." Then, Kain groaned, remembering. "But now, I've gotta go find some 'legendary' Harp of Self-Control. Then, what do I do once I find it? Golbez said I've got to play the Song of Strength – but, I don't know anything about music! Cecil says I couldn't carry a tune in a caldron!" _Oh well, I guess I'll worry about that later._

"First things first! I've got to get off this mountain, before I go crazy and start talking to myself all the time!" _It would be nice if I had someone else to talk to. But . . . no. This quest is something I have to do alone._

So, Kain went back down the mountain. He was very gratified to see that the journey down was much easier than the journey up had been, since becoming a Paladin-Dragon Knight had evidently increased his fighting strength and stamina. That and he was actually moving faster because he already knew the path he needed to take. So, before very long, Kain happily got himself to the bottom of Mount Ordeals.

After spending a couple of hours trying to hitch a ride on one of the vulture-like Zuus (Kain tried to jump on top of them, then hang on, but all he got for his attempts were several hard falls), Kain gave up on any idea of a shortcut and decided to just try to get back to Mysidia before he used up his last three potions. Kain had no idea how long he had spent on the peak of Mount Ordeals, but his injuries were almost completely healed, severe as they had been. Though it was now late afternoon, and he had begun his trial at dawn, Kain suspected that at least one day had passed inbetween.

Only his ruminations and an occasional monster kept Kain company as he walked the long, tedious path back to Mysidia. Dark was falling by the time the lamps of the city could be seen on the horizon. Still Kain continued walking until a myriad of stars had appeared overhead. His intention was to keep walking until he reached the city, but finally the stiffness building up in his not-totally-healed muscles persuaded him otherwise. Slowly, respectfully, he removed his purified helmet and armor, and stowed it in a large traveling pack. The forest slept in silence aside from the rhythmic drone of night insects. Kain looked deeply once more, for good measure, into all the shadows surrounding him, then wrapped his blanket around him and curled up at the foot of a large tree. Almost immediately the blackness of dreams enfolded him.


	5. Chapter 5's

_Freida Right kindly brought a careless typo to my attention. No Mysidia is not trading with itself -- although I suppose that if they were using time travel . . . Eh, never mind. I've fixed it now. Thank you, sharp-eyed reviewers!

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**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**5 - Another Meanwhile**

Somewhere, lurking in the dark, something sinister and evil cackled. Meanwhile, the plot rolled over and groaned.

**5.5 - Trying to Find Damcyan, Mysidia, or Some Place That Sells Potions**

With no further difficulty or adventure to report, Kain reached Mysidia. Before entering the town, however, he again stripped off and stowed his armor. This time, though, he went so far as to bury it and his weapons in the crevice of a big old tree that looked like it was seldom disturbed. Perhaps he was being a bit paranoid, but on the one hand he still felt a little bit unworthy to be wearing his father's armor, and on the other hand he really did not want anyone to recognize him. As far as he could remember, neither that Elder nor those crazy mage kids had ever seen him without his helmet on – actually, they had hardly seen him at all, even at the victory celebration – and so Kain hoped that if he could at least avoid talking directly to them, then they would not recognize him as "Cecil's traitorous friend."

Kain ambled into the equipment shop, and took a moment to recount his gold.

The shopkeeper looked over and raised his eyebrows meaningfully. "What can I do for you, traveler?"

"Sixty hi-potions and eleven antidotes, please." Kain liked to keep things in multiples of ten as often as he could, and so restocked his supplies accordingly.

"Well, guess what, mister? We're running a special today. With every purchase over 9000 gil, you get a dozen phoenix downs free!" The shopkeeper beamed and started reaching down underneath the counter.

"Uh, no, that's alright. I don't need any phoenix downs," Kain hastily protested.

"But, they're free . . ."

"I'm traveling by myself," Kain said pointedly. "Thus they wouldn't really do me much good, anyway."

The shopkeeper scratched his balding head. "Well, suit yourself. Here's your potions and antidotes."

"Thank you." Kain stowed all the materials in his bag, then hurried out. He briefly considered perusing the local armory, his favorite shopping site, but reminded himself that they were unlikely have anything better than the Holy Lance that he had found on the moon. _Back to pressing business_. Kain looked around the center of town for someone to talk to. The closest person was a black mage, but the man/woman's expression gave Kain the creeps, so he went after a convenient white mage instead.

"Excuse me, uh . . . mister white mage." Kain poked said mage on the shoulder.

Said mage turned around, studied Kain intently, then raised an eyebrow.

"Uh – I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to Damcyan." Kain tried to depict a soldier's confidence without too obviously showing a soldier's bearing.

"Damcyan, huh? That's quite a ways to travel. Used to be a real nice, lovely place. Before Golbez and his fiends destroyed it, that is . . ." He kept his eyes fixed on Kain the entire time he was speaking.

"Uh, yes. I heard about that. Too bad and all. But anyway, I have business in Damcyan, and I'm not quite sure what's the quickest way to get there . . ." Kain felt himself started to sweat despite the cool of the day. The look the white mage was giving him suggested that the mage knew more about the dragoon than Kain wanted him to know.

"Well . . . you're in luck. Since the great Paladin defeated that monster Golbez, some enterprising folks have started running a ship between here and Damcyan. It runs once a week, and it ought to be due back pretty soon. Only thing is that it's not meant as a passenger ship, and so tickets run pretty expensive. Last I heard, they were charging upwards of fifteen thousand . . ."

"Oh." _That's a lot. I have that much, but that's still a lot . . . Oh well, I don't really have a choice, do I? Unless I want to swim._ "Well, thank you very much, mister. Where does the ship dock?"

"Just north of town – hey! You're not really serious?"

Kain had already turned to go, and glanced back over his shoulder. "I told you, I have urgent business over there. Have a nice day!" Kain left the staring mage as quickly as he could, making his way up north where he quickly spotted the dock.

Three ships were presently anchored in, all looking seaworthy, though none of them new. A handful of people wandered around the dock and adjacent area. An old man sitting in a grayed shanty looked the most knowledgeable, so Kain approached him. "Excuse me, do you have a boat heading to Damcyan?"

"Why, yes we do." The man grinned crookedly, revealing yellowed teeth. He only barely avoided stepping on his stringy white beard as he stood, and as he turned to face Kain he revealed he had an eyepatch covering his left eye. "She just barely got into port. My boys are loading her up now, and we'll sail before sundown. Are you looking for a ride?"

"Yes, I am. What's your price?"

"Well . . . we don't normally take passengers, but in your case we'll make an exception. I'll let you ride for ten thousand – no discounts, no negotiation." The seaman played with the end of his beard as he talked.

"Fine." Kain tried to keep his expression neutral. _Oh, wait – I can't leave my armor!_ "I'll just go grab some . . . supplies, and then I'm ready to go."

"Marvelous." The man chuckled and sat back down. "A pleasure doing business with you, my boy."


	6. Fun On the Open Sea

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**6 - Fun on the Open Sea and Beyond**

Of course they were all pirates. That was to be expected every time one was desperate to get somewhere that could only be reached by boat. And, of course they tried to imprison Kain and steal all his supplies. Unfortunately for the pirates, because of Kain's plain clothing and lack of visible weapons, they did not realize he was a trained dragon knight. They quickly became abundantly aware of their mistake.

After some tense negotiations, all agreed that Kain would keep his gil and his equipment, and the pirates would keep their lives. This decided, they merrily continued on their way, and eventually arrived at the small port nearest Damcyan. The boat ride was very long, and Kain had to give up half a dozen hi-potions to placate the pirates. Despite this, Kain was able to set foot on the dry ground of Damcyan Desert only about a month after he had begun his descent off Mount Ordeals.

After bidding the pirates a friendly farewell (and only barely retrieving the bag containing his armor and weapons before the ship left dock), Kain began trekking through the desert that completely surrounded the oasis kingdom of Damcyan. Along the way, he had a very long time to think about many things. Mostly, he found himself wondering how his friends were. Kain felt a little bit guilty for leaving as he had, since Golbez's chaos had decimated Baron's army, making every fighter all the more valuable. Before Golbez had claimed him as his personal pawn, Kain had been the captain of the dragoons. He wondered how they were faring without him. _They're probably fine; they're not incompetent, after all. _Mostly he wondered what Cecil had been up to the four or so months he had been away. His friend would make an excellent ruler – this Kain did not doubt – but he was more than a bit curious what Cecil would choose to do with his new authority.

Kain got at least a partial answer to this question right away. He carefully buried his bag with his armor and his lance, casually strolled into the newly built village in front of the castle, then immediately noticed the posters. Almost every building appeared to have one. He chose to approach the Inn's poster for a closer look.

In elegant calligraphy it inquired, "Have you seen this man?" Below this was a lovely artistic rendition of a person wearing Kain's armor. Beneath this, the poster detailed approximates of Kain's physical appearance, age, weight, and height.

Kain groaned and resisted the urge to rip the poster off the wall. _At least he's not offering a reward. Wait – or is he?_ Kain looked again. Sure enough, at the very bottom, it promised a reward for any information. _Curse it. I appreciate your concern, Cecil, but I don't want you meddling in my quest for redemption!_ Kain had to squelch the urge to tug at his hair in frustration. Instead, he redirected the motion to thoughtfully stroke his chin, as though intrigued by the poster. _I'll stick to my original plan, but I'd better not spend a moment longer here than I have to._ He then stopped the next person he saw, who happened to be a young lady, and Kain then inquired, "Excuse me – where could I find King Edward?"


	7. Finally Getting to the Point

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**7 - Finally Getting to the Point**

Surprisingly enough, King Edward was in the castle. Despite his high position and frail health, he insisted on being one of the people who worked at clearing the rubble and repairing the walls of the old structure. The damage that Golbez's air raid had caused was so severe that no one could live in the castle, thus forcing them to build a new village outside of the castle walls. In spite of such conditions, several natives solemnly told Kain, the young king also insisted on sleeping within the castle walls, even though he had to pitch a tent to do so.

"Pardon me, sir, but are you King Edward?" Kain asked politely, even though he already knew for certain whom he was addressing. After Zeromus's defeat, the moon team had immediately reunited with all their friends who were waiting in Mysidia, and Kain and Edward had met for the first time there. To the best of Kain's memory, he had not at any time removed his helmet while he was around Edward; Kain was counting on this fact now, desperately hoping that the king would not recognize the dragoon and then feel obligated to betray details of his quest to Cecil. Kain's honor, and unquestionably his pride, depended on him being able to complete his quest without any outside interferences.

King Edward was engrossed in unburying a wall-hanging that now lay on the floor, and thus Kain had to repeat his question again before the king finally responded. "Oh – I'm sorry. Yes, I am Edward. Who are you?"

"Ricard, a traveler." It was his father's name, and Kain had been using it as his pseudonym ever since he left Baron.

"Oh. A pleasure to meet you, Ricard." Despite how tired he looked, Edward still managed to smile brightly enough to suggest that he actually was pleased. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Yes, actually I came to ask for your help. I have heard that you are a world-class bard, and that you knowledge of music is unparalleled . . ."

"No flattery, please. I must be a king first, bard second. But, I'll admit I am fairly knowledgeable in these areas. What is your question?"

"Well . . . I am interested in collecting harps." Here Kain began to sweat. Thus far, everything was going well, and Edward did not seem to connect this blond traveler to the angsty dragoon he had met in Mysidia. However, even though he had rehearsed this speech all the way from Mount Ordeals to Mysidia and Mysidia to the castle, he had not found any way to state his goal without sounding odd. "Um . . . I was told by a . . . friend that he had heard of an amazing harp. It was called the Harp of Self-Control . . ."

"You mean . . . the legendary Harp of Self-Control!" Edward's eyes went wide, and he looked so excited that Kain was afraid for a moment that the king would jump up and grab him. Edward continued, "My parents told me the stories when I was a boy. It's said that anyone who masters this harp will achieve the ultimate level of self-discipline . . ."

"Uh . . . yes. Well . . . I was hoping you could tell me where I might find this harp. Is it among your collection?"

"No. I do not own a harp as fabulous as the Harp of Self-Control . . . but I do have a scroll that details how to find the harp. The road is supposedly perilous . . ." Edward looked at Kain as though just noticing him, which made the dragoon squirm in reflex, but then the king only concluded, "I have never attempted this quest because I do not have a warrior's fortitude – you are plainly an experienced traveler, so I'm sure you'll be fine." Edward's eyes shimmered with admiration. "Is there anything else I could do for you? I'm always glad to do a favor for a fellow connoisseur of music."

"Um . . . actually . . . I don't know much about playing harps." Actually, he knew nothing at all, beyond the fact that it required one's fingers. "This is a very new interest of mine. Could you possibly teach me how to play the Song of Strength?"

"Of course, Mister Ricard. Follow me!" Edward led the way, practically skipping. "I'll give you one of my old practice harps, and you'll be on your way to becoming a great bard in no time!"

"Um . . . thank you."


	8. Cecil Pays a Friendly Visit

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**8 - Cecil Pays a Friendly Visit**

Kain started off immediately, following the directions laid out in the scroll Edward had dug up (literally) from the palace vault. He had to backtrack all the way across the desert, back to the teensy little shipyard the pirates had deposited him at, chasing down monsters for gil all the while. Once at the port, without too much finagling, Kain got himself onboard a ship that would take him directly around the world to the destination indicated by the scroll. This ship was not run by pirates, so Kain's journeyings ceased to be interesting for a while. But, all the time Kain was happily riding the boat, little did he suspect that Cecil had gotten tired of waiting for results, and decided to go investigating personally.

Of course, Cecil did not know to check Damcyan first. Cecil did however know Kain well enough to wonder if Kain might attempt to climb Mount Ordeals to redeem himself. This possibility worried Cecil the most because he recalled the mountain had been terribly hazardous for him, and Cecil had had the benefit of allies to back him up that time.

So, as soon as Cecil decided he was not going to sit around and let Cid run the investigation anymore, he flew straight to Mysidia. Actually, he wanted to fly directly to the mountain to look for his friend, but Cid (who had insisted on accompanying the young king) persuaded him to stop in the town first. Then, while Cid had ranted that the Elder had refused to post the fabulous wanted posters Cid had commissioned, Cecil talked to the Mysidians and found that a big, quirky blond guy had stopped by briefly and left in a hurry for Damcyan.

Cecil made Cid fly the Enterprise 2 over to Damcyan as quickly as it could manage. The little ship was Cid's latest pride and joy, and he bragged of his genius to all within hearing range as he landed the smallish airship on the sand, right next to the new Damcyan village.

As they entered the village, they immediately noticed the prominence of Cid's posters.

"Now that's more like it!" Cid declared. "King Edward obviously knows how things should be run."

"Right . . ." Cecil absently agreed without really listening to the engineer.

A number of the villagers looked at them nervously, whispering to each other, the word "redwing" just barely audible.

_Still nervous about Baron's ships? I can't say I blame them._ Cecil looked morosely at the ruined castle beyond the village, all its turrets half-toppled.

Then, a red garbed person came running their way. Edward still looked more like a bard than a king, but his people still respected him and promptly stepped aside for him to pass.

"Cecil! What a pleasant surprise. And Cid, good to see you as well." Edward had to pause, being slightly out of breath from his quick jog. "As soon as someone mentioned a redwing, I knew it had to be you. So, what's going on?"

Cecil sighed. "We're trying to track down Kain. He's been gone so long . . ."

". . . deserter . . ." Cid mumbled deliberately loud enough for both monarchs to hear.

". . . that I've been worried about him and just want to check to see that he's okay."

Edward shook his head. "I don't think that he's been here. You see, we did put up those posters you sent, but no one's reported anything to me yet."

"It's alright." Cecil rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "You see, some people at Mysidia recalled seeing a blond traveler who said he desperately needed to get to Damcyan. I was hoping it was Kain . . . but I don't have any idea why he would need to come here . . ."

"Blond?" Edward crossed his arms, and made an odd face. "Actually, now that you mention it . . . there was a blond stranger who was just here about a week ago. He called himself Ricard, but didn't give any other background. I thought it was pretty unusual for someone besides myself to be so excited about a harp . . ."

"A . . . harp!" Cid sputtered. Cecil just looked confused.

"Yes – the legendary Harp of Self-Control." Edward bit his lip. "I'm sorry, Cecil. I never would have guessed that that was Kain."

"Stocky guy? About yea-tall?" Cid gestured with one hand. "Matted blond hair? Sheesh, didn't you even read those posters!"

Edward nodded weakly.

"Cid, it's alright." Cecil directed a frown in the general vicinity of the engineer. Then, he addressed the other king again. "He left a week ago? Where was he going?"

"I gave him an ancient scroll I found that had directions. It said the first clue to the location of the legendary harp is in the Phoenix's Nest, near Eblan." Edward bit his lip again.

"Okay – that's fine." Cecil could easily imagine the bard king might burst into tears if he criticized him at all for his blindness, and he really did not want to deal with that right now. "Did the scroll give any specifics for how to find the nest?"

Edward just shook his head.

Cid spoke up, "We have nothing to worry about, Cecil. We're friends with the most egotistical ninja in all of Eblan. If he doesn't already know where the Phoenix's Nest is, then for the sake of his pride he won't be able to stop searching until he finds it!"

Cecil smirked, and just barely held back a laugh. "Right . . . Ah . . . thank you, Edward, for all your help."

"Don't mention it, Cecil. I wish I had noticed before . . ."

"Forget it. And, if there's anything we can do to help rebuild your city, just let me know."

Edward managed a weak smile and nodded. His eyes brightened, and he darted off quickly and returned with a big, fluffy package that he shoved into Cecil's hands. "Here. May this be of help to you on your journey."

"Phoenix downs? Thank you, Edward. But, do you really think we'll need phoenix downs when we're heading to the Phoenix's nest?"

"You never know." Edward shrugged. "Good luck to you."

"And to you as well." Cecil nodded in the direction of the ruined castle, then he and Cid departed.


	9. Still Following Cecil

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**9 - Still Following Cecil and Not As Yet Having Returned to Kain's Perspective**

"Of course I'm sure, Cid! Everyone knows the Phoenix's Nest is somewhere in the Eblany Sawtooths in the east!"

"Uh huh. Somewhere. How many years are we going to spend wandering around in these mountains looking for said nest?"

"I have precise directions –"

"That's what you said an hour ago!"

"We're not there yet! If it were that close –!"

Cecil groaned and tried to tune out the argument by covering his ears. It didn't help, but it gave him something to do. Still, as bad as those two might be, Cecil was glad he had recruited Rosa, Rydia, and Edge to come with him as well. Like Edge had said, one was solitaire, two was company, three was a crowd, and five was a party . . . or something to that effect. Cecil presumed the ninja had been attempting to make the point that adventuring was much more enjoyable if more people were involved.

Or, at least it would be if two of those people weren't passing the time by yelling at each other as they climbed the mountain. Rosa meanwhile carried herself with the poise of a queen, as always, looking as if she could not even hear the argument. Cecil wondered enviously if she had found a way to manipulate the mute spell to block certain voices from her hearing. Rydia, on the other hand, looked ready for a fight, and appeared to be considering pummeling Edge (or Cid, or both) with the nearest blunt object. When Cecil had called on her, she had been living in Mist in order to search for, and also train, other summoners. She had been the most reluctant to join Cecil's quest thus far, but Rosa had managed to persuade the young lady in the end.

Edge's voice again jarred Cecil out of his reverie.

"We are not going in circles! You see that? That is a _sequoiadendron eblanicus_! We have not passed any –!"

A strange, unearthly screech echoed around the valleys and peaks surrounding the travelers.

Edge stopped short, swallowing his words. His eyes darted around, looking for possible cover, but they were presently on a face of a hill covered only by grasses and bushes. "Hurry – let's get up to this next rise and take a look!" he commanded in a rather loud whisper, then immediately followed his own advice. Cecil and the others shortly followed.

"Look!" Rydia hissed needlessly. Everyone had immediately noticed the flaming bird circling in the sky. Emboldened by the many years she had spent living in the Land of the Summons, Rydia walked out into the open and spread her hands out in a gesture of peace.

The phoenix squawked again, its cry reverberating off the cliff faces. It circled lower.

"What's it doing?" Edge grunted, coming closer and placing a hand on Rydia's shoulder.

After a measured pause, Rydia shoved his hand off.

Cecil stepped up onto the field as well. "Is it landing? It's . . ."

The phoenix dove low, wheeled in a large circle back up into the sky, then swooped again. It released the burden it held in its talons, which thudded and rolled to a stop just before the travelers. Then, the phoenix shrieked again and flew away.

The phoenix's burden was a blond man, wearing nondescript clothing, who was thickly covered from head to foot in fluffy white feathers. Despite his rather rugged landing, he did not stir.

Edge stretched his arms and yawned loudly. "Well, that was the easiest search mission ever!"


	10. What's Going On Now?

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**10 - What's Going On Now?**

"Kain!" Cecil immediately tried to rouse his unconscious friend, to no avail.

"What is he covered with?" Edge wanted to know. He snatched a white feather out of Kain's hair and studied it with a raised eyebrow.

"Um . . . yeah . . . we need to get these feathers off of him!" Cecil desperately tried to brush the white down off, but quickly gave up and turned to Rydia. "Could you use magic to clean him off?"

Rydia also raised an eyebrow, then sighed. "Black magic doesn't exactly work for cleaning . . . but . . . sure. Why not? Stand back, all of you." She started chanting a summon spell.

Rosa's eyes went wide. "Wait! Rydia, you shouldn't –!"

"Get back!" Cecil grabbed his wife as a giant sea serpent materialized in the air above them.

Leviathan roared, and torrents of ocean water gushed out of the sky, drowning the small field.

Twenty minutes later, when they finally found Kain again, he was still unconscious and was now soaking wet, but at least all the feathers appeared to be gone.

Cecil sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose to try to drive off his headache. "Rosa, could you please . . ."

"Of course." Rosa chanted quietly, and golden beams of healing light surrounded the dragoon. He almost immediately started coughing convulsively, and spitting up feathers. Rosa frowned in concern, and continued her healing spells.

After a moment, though still gasping for breath, Kain slowly opened his blue eyes and looked up at the people around him. "Gah . . . wha? Cecil!" He sprang to his feet and coughed again.

"What are you doing here?" Cecil demanded.

"I should be asking you the same thing," Kain returned a bit sulkily.

Edge couldn't resist joining the conversation. "So, what's this I hear? Something about you going after a harp? One with special, unfathomable powers by chance?"

"It's none of your business what I'm doing," Kain snapped. "Including you, Cecil. Don't you have a kingdom to be running?"

"The chancellor can handle things in my absence. Kain, it's been . . . well, months. I just wanted to make sure you're alright."

"I'm fine. Thank you. You can all get back to your normal lives now."

"Kain . . ." Cecil refused to be so abruptly dismissed by his old friend. "Edward explained that you seemed to be on a quest to retrieve this harp. Please . . . if it's so important to you, I want to help you."

"I don't need your help."

Cecil raised an eyebrow. "Edward said that the first clue to the harp's location is located in the Phoenix's Nest."

"So?" Kain tensed but refused to back down.

Cecil just crossed his arms and gave Kain a piercing look for a moment. Finally, Cecil asked, "So, what are you going to do? Just charge back in there again?"

"I think I missed something," Edge whispered to Rydia.

"I think you miss a lot," she returned with a smirk, playfully poking the ninja's shoulder.

"Kain . . . please. You don't even have to tell me what this quest is for, if you don't want to. Just let me help you. I'm your friend." Cecil would not beg, but he was not above trying to guilt-trip Kain into cooperating.

"I don't want your help!" the blond dragoon grunted.

"I know." Cecil shrugged. "But, you know you need it."

Kain turned away and clenched his fists so hard his knuckles went totally white. "Fine. You win, Cecil."

"Where's the Phoenix's Nest?"

"Just a little further up this mountain." Kain turned back around slowly as though suddenly very weary. "I left all my stuff up there, too . . ."

"Okay." Cecil glanced briefly at Cid and the others and gave them a big grin. "Lead the way, Kain."

"Come on, then," the dragoon sighed. Without looking back, he started forward in a quick pace up the hill.


	11. That Infamous Phoenix's Nest

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**11 - That Infamous Phoenix's Nest**

"Just past those trees." Kain pointed and made no move to go further. Two large, burlap bags rested at the foot of an evergreen _sequoiadendron eblanicus_. His face twisted into an insuppressible frown as he looked down at Cecil.

Cecil just smiled back. "Kain, you can wait here. We'll take care of this."

"Wait a minute!" Edge interjected. "You saw what happened to Kain before, and now you just want to waltz right in!"

"It'll be fine, Edge. Do we have anything to worry about, Kain?" Cecil inquired.

Kain sighed, shook his head and said, "It's nothing you couldn't handle."

"But, then why couldn't he–?"

"Come on, Edge." Cecil started walking forward.

"Cecil!" Cid boomed. "How do we know he won't just wander off?" He gave the dragoon a mildly venomed look.

"I guess someone could stay with him . . ."

"I'll stay," Rydia declared flatly.

"But–!" Edge looked momentarily wounded, then abruptly switched to detached. "Fine. You'll be able to handle him if he gives you any trouble."

Rydia smiled. "Of course."

Cecil, Cid, Rosa, and Edge soon disappeared into the trees. Rydia and Kain looked each other in the eye for a moment, then quickly decided that they would rather watch the forest instead, and so they did so the entire rest of the time the others were gone.

Meanwhile, Cecil and company shortly found themselves standing before an artificial, stone basin that was easily as wide across as the entire Baron castle. The stone walls of the basin appeared to be carved with designs or characters of ancient origin. Everything within it was brilliantly white and fluffy.

"Yee-haw!" Edge hollered as he jumped the four-foot drop. He stumbled on his landing, though, because he sank in up to his knees in phoenix feathers.

"I guess it's safe," Rosa said to Cecil.

"Yeah . . . Hey, Edge! Do you see any significant-looking stone tablets?"

"If you ask him, we'll be here all day." Cid jumped off the ledge as well, and headed straight for the farthest wall, plowing through the mounds of feathers. "He doesn't know anything about keeping focused on a goal."

"What! Are you talking about that airship-thing again? I'm telling you it's no prince's place to be monkeying around with things that are drenched in machine oil!"

"You couldn't run an airship, let alone a country!"

"They're at it again," Cecil moaned.

Rosa giggled. "They act more Palom and Porom's age that the twins do themselves."

"Hey, Cecil! Is this the thingamy we're looking for?" Cid's voice hollered back from the far side of the nest. He held up a rock the size of a book.

"Possibly!"

Cid and Edge hauled themselves up out of the nest and rejoined Cecil and Rosa. Their pants were heavily coated in fine, white dust, and Cid had somehow gotten several feathers stuck in his beard. Cid waved the stone tablet as he approached.

"So, does it have another clue then?" Cecil inquired.

"Looks like more than that. At first glance it seems to have five sets of instructions."

Rosa took the stone from the engineer and studied it. "I think . . . it means you need to collect four pieces of a key, then take the pieces to the final location."

"Anybody ever wonder why ancient people who wanted to protect some super-artifact would go to so much trouble making a really annoying puzzle to guard it?" Edge asked.

"Because it's fun, of course!" Cid grinned evilly. "Would you like me to design some new security measures for your palace?"

"Ah, no. You keep your mad inventions away from my castle, thank you."

Cecil shook his head and started down the hill. Cid followed, but Rosa hesitated, waiting for the ninja who, instead of following, jumped back in the nest.

"Um, Edge, what are you doing?"

"Don't wait up! I'll be right down!"

". . . Okay." Rosa rejoined the others, and they trekked back down the hill to rejoin Kain and Rydia.


	12. Treasure Hunt

_Hello, all. Sorry for the delay in updating, but I got a nasty sinus infection, and I had to start school again. Luckily, they didn't quite occur simultaneously. So, here are the next two chapters._

_Just so you know, I intend to do minor reediting of all the chapters, mostly to make the first three or so chapters better match the later ones. If you have any suggestions for how I could do things better, I'd love to hear so that I can incorporate your advice into my editings._

_Once again, thanks to Katmillia and Dragonlover for reviewing. I tried to follow your suggestions, and I especially hope I got the paragraphs fixed. I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if I didn't._

_That's a long author's note. Oh well. I hope everyone has a lovely day!

* * *

_

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**12 - Treasure Hunt**

"Well? What's it say? Let me see it!" Kain wasted no words as the others returned.

"It describes the four locations of the pieces of a key, and then the final location where the harp itself rests," Cecil answered hesitantly.

"So, let me have it! I don't want to waste any more time!"

"Kain . . ." Cecil did not want to let his old friend do this alone, but he knew that however he tried to explain this, the dragoon would object. Fortunately, he had the inklings of a plan to outmaneuver Kain. "It's late, and the forests are dangerous – especially for a solitary traveler. I think we should camp here for the night and discuss the whole situation before anyone goes off and does anything else."

Kain glowered. "So, what you're saying is that you're going to hold onto the tablet to force me to let you come along!"

"No, I . . ." _He knows me too well._ "That's not the point. I just want to know all the details of why you're looking for this harp . . ."

Rosa and Rydia took the initiative to start up a small fire roughly in the center of the group. They both set up a pile of wood, then Rydia pointed at it and the logs magically burst into flames.

"I don't need your help, Cecil. Please! I need to do this alone!" Just for a second, Kain dropped the icy mask that he had kept up since Cecil arrived. He looked almost desperate.

"Kain – I just want to –"

"Hey, everybody! Look at what I've got!" Edge returned and struck a triumphant pose while holding a white-dusted bag aloft.

"What is it?" Rydia made a dubious face. "Unrefined phoenix downs? They're so dusty! You're going to turn your ninja suit white."

"Yeah, yeah, but they're free phoenix downs." Edge raised his eyebrows as if that explained everything. Then, blatantly strutting, he walked over to the fire and dropped the bag within several feet of Kain. A big cloud of dust rose from the impact.

"A-tchoo!" Kain sneezed, then tried to back away, but it was too late. "A-tchoo! A-tchi! Atch-Atchoo!"

Cecil hurried forward. "Kain? Are you alright?"

The dragoon shook his head and sneezed again. "A-tchoo-oo!"

"Edge, get those phoenix downs put away!" Cecil yelled over his shoulder. Then, he reached into his limited magic power and cast a simple cure spell on Kain.

The spell worked, letting Kain resume breathing normally. He hastily wiped off the tears that had involuntarily come forth from sneezing so hard.

Cecil looked back at the group, and noticed Edge was standing totally still, just staring. "Edge, please – move those things now."

Edge bent over and scooped up the bag – then as he straightened, his eyes widened. He looked at the bag, looked at Kain, then exploded in laughter. Inbetween chuckles, he managed to gasp out, "You're – you're allergic! Allergic to phoenix downs! Ha ha ha ha!"

Kain gave Edge the ultimate-dragoon-death-glare-of-doom while his cheeks started turning crimson.

"You're not serious . . . ?" Rydia appealed to Cecil for an answer.

Cecil tugged at his shirt sleeves, stalling.

Edge was still going. "So, no wonder you couldn't go into the phoenix's nest! Ha ha ha! What, did you fall in the first time? Ha! The phoenix must have felt really sorry for you!"

"Stop it, you–!" Kain growled, dropping into a fighting stance.

"Ha! Oh yeah? What could you do to me?"

"Edge! Be silent!" Cecil thundered. Even the birds in the forest stopped chirping.

After a long, awkward silence, Rydia finally got the nerve to ask, "But how could he be allergic? I mean, we traveled with him all the way to the moon, and he never seemed to react . . ."

"Well . . ." Cecil gave an apologetic glance to Kain, then explained. "Maybe you didn't notice, but on the moon, the few times that he got knocked out, Rosa used magic to revive him. Kain doesn't react as badly to the commercially cleaned feathers, but . . . well . . ."

"It's never been an issue before," Kain said stiffly, throwing another icy look at the ninja.

"I've heard of other cases," Cid mentioned with a half smile.

Kain studied Cid's face in shock. "You already knew!"

Cid smirked. "I've known you since you were a little whelp. I know all your secrets."

Kain looked disturbed. He tried to cover this up by quickly asking Cecil, "So . . . what does that tablet say?"

Cecil folded his arms. "No, wait. First I want to hear about why you're on this quest anyway."

Edge sniggered to himself something that sounded suspiciously like "phoenix downs." Rydia slapped him on the side of the head and told the ninja, "Be nice."

"Okay, fine." Kain took a seat by the fire, as far away as he could get from Edge. Then, he related to the group his interpretation of what had transpired on Mount Ordeals.

"So, you see . . . unless I can find this harp . . . I can't trust myself to go back to Baron."

"Everyone gets caught by confuse spells sometimes, Kain," Rosa attempted to reassure.

"Yeah. But not every time."

"Uh-huh." Cid paused to nudge one of the logs into a better position with his boot. "But, that still doesn't explain where you got the 'brilliant' idea that you have to do this all by yourself."

For a moment, the only sound was the crackle of the fire. At last, Kain said. "Well, you're not giving me a choice now, are you?"

"No. Glad you understand that much, at least. So, Cecil – what's the plan?"

Cecil stared into the dancing flames as if he somehow expected them to foretell the future. "We'll leave tomorrow at dawn, and start tracking down the clues." He glanced up, anticipating Kain's reaction, but the dragoon only frowned and said nothing.

With the conversation effectively killed, the whole group settled down into sleeping bags or blankets and soon fell asleep.

Several hours later, Kain opened his eyes. The sky was veiled with thin clouds, letting only a few scraggly moonbeams through. He had deliberately positioned himself with his bag of supplies at his feet, and Cecil on his immediate left. For a moment, he just watched his friend sleep. Kain still found it unfathomable that Cecil would trust him so much, considering everything that happened. True, most of his betrayal had been Golbez's fault, but not all of it. The fact that Cecil apparently trusted Kain enough to not even keep watch made it all the more painful now that Kain had decided to deliberately betray that trust.

_I don't have a choice!_ Kain tried to rationalize to himself as he rolled onto his stomach in utter silence, then crawled over to reach the traveling bag that lay at Cecil's feet. Painstakingly controlling his breathing, he untied the drawstring, then felt around inside until his fingers closed on cold stone.

Once he held the tablet in his hands, his nerve broke, and he moved recklessly fast over to grab his own supplies. His father's armor clanked softly in the bag as Kain sprinted into the forest.


	13. Booby Traps For One and All

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**13 - Booby Traps For One and All**

"He took the tablet!" Edge sputtered.

Cecil replied with a sigh, "I figured he might."

"So you just let him!"

"So I copied down the instructions while he was still asleep." Cecil pulled out a folded parchment from his tunic and showed the others.

"That's smart. But, he still has a head start on us," Cid observed.

Rosa took the paper from Cecil and reread the instructions. "Besides that, there's four pieces of the key – which one do you think he'd go for first?"

Cecil shrugged. "We can only assume that he doesn't know I made a copy. With that in mind, I would say we go to the closest site first."

"How far away are these?" Edge yanked the paper a bit roughly from Rosa's hands. "Oh – they're all relative to the nest. We should be able to get around to all of them before the end of the day. So . . . the closest site is probably . . . that way!" Edge pointed up the hill, just to the side of the Phoenix's Nest.

Cid removed the paper from the ninja's hand and returned it to the other king. "I'd rather have Cecil navigate, thanks."

"It's my kingdom! I know these mountains better than any of you!"

"Again?" Rydia rolled her eyes.

Edge looked momentarily chagrined. Then, he asked the group, "But, don't you think I'm right? I've been up and down a lot of the mountains in this area before, and I think –"

'Mute?' Cecil mouthed to Rosa hopefully.

The white mage glanced in the direction of Edge, then met Cecil's eyes again and smirked slightly.

* * *

Meanwhile Kain, contrary to Cecil's logic, had decided to start by retrieving the most distant piece of the key. He reasoned that Cecil would not give up quickly, and might linger around the camp location for several hours. Kain desperately hoped that by the time he was ready to retrieve the other pieces, Cecil would have already given up and gone back home. Knowing Cecil, though, this did not seem very likely. But, especially after resorting to stealing the tablet, Kain really did not want to face the others again before he had completed this quest. 

He easily found a set of stone, double doors that were inset in a cliff wall. With a little bit of effort, Kain got them open, took one step inside, and just barely caught himself before taking a second step. The floor dropped down into a deep chasm just beyond the door. On the opposite wall of the vast chamber was a series of cliff ledges that had half a dozen ropes dangling down to the lower level. Finally, Kain noticed the rickety looking ladder near his feet that one could use to descend into the bottom of the pit.

Kain stepped back out into the sunlight for a moment to skim over the tablet's instructions. _Series of platforms . . . key fragment on top one . . . climbing ropes . . . four ropes are fake and will break at some unpredictable time . . . _"Forget this!" Kain shoved his bag and the tablet out of sight behind a thick bush, then reentered the chamber and leapt high into the air. He landed easily on the first platform, then immediately leapt up again and landed as gracefully as before. Five jumps later, he arrived on the uppermost platform and snatched up the oddly shaped jewel that rested on a stone pedestal. "Too easy." Kain stowed the key piece in a pocket, then got a running start and jumped down.

* * *

"Predictable," Cid snorted as he took his place to stand on a stone button. Rosa, Rydia, and Edge each stood on another, and the combination of the four buttons raised the gate and lowered the spikes, and opened the door that at last permitted Cecil to grab the emerald key fragment.

"Some traps these are," Edge grumbled as they trekked to the next closest puzzle. "Wake me up when you need some ninja skills."

The next puzzle site had the key fragment in plain sight, but it was on the opposite side of a bottomless pit. As Cecil approached, a bridge appeared out of nowhere to span the gap, but it also instantly began sliding back and forth much too fast for anyone to cross over.

"Suggestions?" Cecil prompted as he jumped back. The bridge dissolved as soon as he was out of range of its spell.

"I have an idea." Rydia walked forward until the bridge appeared, then chanted. Freezing winds and snow enveloped the entire area, and effectively froze the bridge in place. However, it was frozen a couple of feet too far to the left.

"You missed," Edge commented.

"No, ninja boy – now it's time for you to show off your skills."

"Oh-ho." He smiled and struck a pose. "Well, alright then." Without further thought he hopped onto the bridge, and mostly slid the length, just barely stopping himself before he crashed into the wall. The key piece sat in an indentation just out of his reach to the right. After considering his situation, Edge pulled out a pair of claws he had acquired from Yang. Edge drove the claw on his left hand into the rock face right before him, then leaned over as far as he could to the right. He clutched the key fragment in his right hand, then used both claws to walk over the wall and bring him back to standing upright. Then, he turned and recrossed the bridge. As he got close to the end, the bridge started quivering. Edge leapt up just as the bridge broke free of Rydia's ice. The ninja flew forward, did a full flip, then landed on his face. Instantly he sprang up and brushed the weeds out of his hair. "Ha. See? Nothing to it . . ."

Cecil hurriedly led the group on to the next spot. Just before it came into sight, they heard an inhuman scream rip through the air.

"Finally!" Cid said. "Something interesting!"

Edge darted ahead and climbed a large boulder for a better look. "Sorry, Cid. It's only Kain making a monster mad."

A giant green creature with a hundred tentacles sat above a box that unquestionably contained the key. As Cecil and the others came into sight, it screeched a challenge at them. A blond man, who was irately attempting to get himself free, dangled upside down from one of the tentacles.

Cecil considered the situation. "Well, we could proceed cautiously and free Kain first . . ."

"Or you could just let me take care of it," Rydia volunteered and immediately began chanting.

Ifrit materialized over the cove and eyed the monster with an evil grin.

The monster squawked and dropped Kain, head first, then started trying to cast its own magic against the esper.

The cove exploded in a ball of magic, and when the light cleared, the tentacled monster was gone. Ifrit turned and winked at Rydia, then teleported back home.

Cecil ran down into the burned arena toward the key box. Kain was already there, looking a bit singed and bruised, but otherwise alright. The dragoon had already retrieved the last key fragment and was trying to figure out how it might fit together with the one he had already gotten. He looked up and noticed Cecil and made a face.

Cecil smiled and offered the other two pieces of the key they had retrieved.

Kain groaned. "I can't get you to give up, can I?" He reluctantly took the other emeraldine fragments. "Alright – I won't try to do this by myself. It'll be a group effort from here to the end. Deal?"

"Deal." Cecil shook his friend's hand. He could think of a lot of clever statements to add to that, but for the moment decided to keep them to himself.


	14. The Legendary Harp of Self Control

_Next set of two chapters-- we're nearing the end! Thanks to Mythweaver1 for reviewing -- I've tried to fix all the typos now. As I said in my new note in Chapter One, if you see any more mistakes, or just have some suggestions, please feel free to let me know._

_That said, I hope you all enjoy the next chapters.

* * *

_

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**14 - The Legendary Harp of Self-Control**

According to Kain's tablet, the resting place of the legendary harp was in the precise center of a forest in a valley that was just below the mountain's summit. The trek up there was uneventful, aside from increasingly frequent appearances of some very pesky bats. The vile creatures only took one square hit to dispatch, but they swarmed like mosquitos and kept trying to latch onto one's neck, or barring that, one's arm.

The forest itself was no improvement. All the trees were dead. All the plants were dead. Despite the lack of leaves, though, it was still dark because of the heavy fog that covered the entire valley. The only light came from phosphorescent fungus that heavily covered everything at ground level. As the group stood silent a moment, surveying the terrain, they could clearly hear sticks snapping just ahead of them. Whatever lurked in here, it was not at all shy.

"Any more specific directions besides 'the middle of the forest'?" Cecil inquired.

"Nope." Kain drew his lance out of the bag on his back and held it ready in his hand.

They entered the forest. Not unexpectedly, they were attacked by zombies and the like almost every inch of the way. Rosa finally went ahead and cast Holy into the trees in front of them, and this bought them a few unmolested minutes.

"Do you have the key assembled?" Cecil asked Kain quietly.

"Um . . . not exactly . . ." Kain pulled out the pieces, and showed that he had two attached, but probably not correctly. Hesitantly, Kain addressed the others. "For the sake of not wasting time, is anyone good at puzzles?"

"Gimme." Cid held out a waiting hand.

Kain, unprotesting, handing the four pieces over. Then, almost immediately, he had to fend off a purple-oozing, bone creature. Luckily, it did not like Kain's Holy Lance, so the fight was over very quickly.

"Got it!" Cid declared, thoroughly pleased with himself.

Kain looked over and stared. The four fragments fit together to form an emeraldine donut. "How does that work as a key?"

"Who cares? Are we there yet?" Edge grumbled.

Cecil ignored Edge and continued on, hardly even pausing as he slashed at a zombie that leapt out in front of him.

Things continued on much as before until they arrived in a clearing that contained an ugly black tower that resembled a painfully contorted hand. The tower's door had a donut-shaped indentation in it.

Something cackled evilly. Everyone ignored it because lots of things in this forest seemed to cackle. Cid pulled out the donut key and headed forward, but then . . .

A witch appeared out of nowhere, right in Cid's way, cackling again a bit louder for added effect.

Cid glowered down at the monster that only came up to his knees. "Move before I kick you."

"I think not!" the witch squeaked. "There's no escape for you now! You will be my slaves or perish!"

Cid rolled his eyes and pulled out his hammer.

The witch panicked, faced with such a dreadful weapon. "Ayeeee! Dispel! Silence! Esuna! Confuse! You will obey me! You will protect me, not attack me!"

"How stupid do you think I am?" Cid grunted. He drew his arm up to swing his hammer, but then somehow grasped his hand from behind. "What the–?"

Kain, face vacant, yanked the hammer from Cid's fingers, then walked over to stand protectively in front of the witch.

"You've gotta be kidding . . ." Edge stared open-mouthed.

"Yes! Yes yes yes! It worked!" the witch exulted.

"Kain!" Cecil stood frozen, uncertain what to do.

"Come, my minion! Drop that . . . icky stick-thing and flee with me into my protected cave!" The witch charged into the dead brush surprisingly fast for such a short creature. Without a word or any outward reaction, Kain let his lance slip from his fingers and land in the dirt. He then bounded off into the forest, after the witch.

"We have to go after him!" Cecil declared, starting forward to do just that.

"Wait a minute! What about the harp?" Rydia spoke up. "Won't we need that to break the mind control on Kain?"

"Not if we kill that witch first," countered Cid.

"I'll get the key–" Edge and Rydia started to say at the same time, then stopped and looked at each other funny.

"Fine," Cecil interrupted. "You two handle that. We'll go on ahead. You come find us as soon as you get the harp."

"No problem!" Edge declared. Cid passed the key over to him, and Edge immediately went and set it into the indentation in the door. Rydia watched the others pass out of sight before she went to join the ninja beside the tower. Conveniently enough, with the key in place, the door hummed cheerfully for a moment, then swung open. Within was a dark chamber containing a table.

"Great! Now . . . where's the harp?" Edge stepped into the room. A soft rustling filled the air, and a number of cards appeared, carefully laid out on the table. The ninja stared and scratched his head. "Are we supposed to make a harp out of these or what?"

"Is it a puzzle? Or some sort of game?" Rydia could not guess what the card formation was supposed to mean.

"Wha? Oh, blecch! It's solitaire. I hate this game!"

"Well, I've never heard of it." Rydia nudged Edge meaningfully. "So, you'd better get onto it."

Edge dutifully played the game. Before he had gotten half the cards set aside at the top, the cards picked themselves up, shuffled, and redistributed on the table. The ninja grunted, but started over. He got more cards set aside this time, but then, once again, the game abruptly reset itself.

"What's it doing? Edge, I thought you said you knew this game!"

"I do . . . I've just never actually won it before. I'd always get bored and quit . . ."

Rydia slapped a hand to her forehead. "I hope Cecil, Cid, and Rosa are doing better than we are . . ."


	15. Rescuing Kain, Again

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**15 - Rescuing Kain, Again**

After watching Edge's fifteenth aborted round of solitaire, Rydia thought she had a good enough grasp on the rules to play. She took over gaming, and won by the third round.

"What's your strategy?" Edge wanted to know.

"I'll explain later."

The cards leapt into the air and flew up into the shadowy heights of the ceiling. Then, with dramatic slowness, a shimmery gold harp floated down from above. The harp itself seemed to be playing an elegant and dramatic fanfare of triumph. It hovered midair in front of Edge's face, playing progressively more and more elaborate variations, until Edge reached out and grabbed the instrument. The room seemed abruptly dimmer, and the music stopped.

Rydia shook her head. "That was weird."

"Maybe it's a bard thing? Whatever. We've got to find the others!" He ran outside into the clearing. "Which way did they go again?"

An explosion rumbled in the distance.

"Ah. Never mind."

Rydia and Edge raced off in the direction they thought most likely. A bit worryingly, after the initial explosion, there was not another sound. Even the obnoxious forest monsters seemed to have disappeared. The fog clung ever denser to the ground the further they went.

Edge suddenly tripped over something and made several awkward hops to avoid landing on his face. Rydia, who had been following behind, stopped to see what it was.

The color drained from her face. "It's Cecil . . ."

"What!" Edge spun around and tried to find the others in the thickening fog.

"Mist Dragon – please remove this mist!" Rydia commanded loudly.

"Nice thinking–!"

The shimmering white dragon appeared and immediately worked its magic. With the removal of the fog, Edge and Rydia could clearly see a gray-armored figure fall from the sky to strike Cid. The engineer stumbled backwards, then fell and did not move again. Just behind him, Rosa lay slumped against a tree.

"Uh oh," Edge commented automatically.

The armored person noticed them and approached. Though a helmet made of a monster skull mostly obscured the person's face, Edge did not doubt that it was Kain.

The witch squealing with glee in the background only strengthened that hypothesis. "Yes, my lovely! Smash them! Bite them!"

"Rydia, get the witch," Edge whispered quickly.

"And what are you–?"

Kain raised what appeared to be a giant bone over his head, then jumped up into the sky.

"Look out!" Edge shoved Rydia one way while he dove the other. Rydia recovered quickly and ran out of the way, beginning to chant as she ran.

The dragon knight hit the ground, missing both of the heroes. Rydia let loose an enormous lightning bolt which hit Kain directly, but it did not appear to phase him. He turned to face her and growled like a mindless monster. Rydia chanted and cast Flare, but it only slowed Kain for a moment in his advance.

Rydia ran, chanting momentarily abandoned. "Edge! My magic isn't doing anything! Do someth – awk!" Kain ran faster than the young mage, and clubbed her in the back of the head. She fell stunned, and while she knelt defenseless, the dragoon took the opportunity to hit her once more.

Only Edge remained a threat, and Kain immediately turned his full attention to the lone ninja. He leapt again into the air, club prepared to strike. But then, he suddenly faltered and landed awkwardly on the ground.

Encouraged by Kain's reactions, Edge continued plucking at the Harp of Self-Control. He actually had taken a number of music lessons as a youth (not something that he would ever admit in front of Kain) and could play a decent melody. Though not the Song of Strength, the little ditty Edge played on the harp seemed to have some sort of positive effect.

Kain slowly pushed himself up from the ground and looked around, totally bewildered. His eyes focused on the ninja. "Edge? You – I –" He noted the unconscious bodies of his friends. "No . . ."

"Yeah . . . well, let's just say that now I don't doubt that you need this harp." Edge's playing slowed.

"Don't stop!" Kain nearly shrieked. "The spell's still in effect! If you stop playing for a moment, I'll attack you again!"

Edge almost stopped again, startled by this revelation. He kept up his simple melody. "Can you attack the witch?"

"No. All your playing does is give me enough will to resist her commands – for the moment. Barely. Please, Edge – you have to stop me." Kain openly pleaded. "As soon as you set down the harp, you'll only have a moment."

Edge shook his head. "Kain – unlike you, I don't enjoy attacking my comrades."

"Quit joking! For their sakes, not mine! Edge, you promised me that if I ever lost control again, you'd use whatever force was necessary . . ."

"I remember." Edge set his jaw. He stood and wandered back over to Cecil, still playing the harp all the while. With one foot, he nudged open the paladin's traveling pack, then turned and addressed the dragoon, whom Edge noticed had started trembling from the effort required to resist the witch's control. "Now, you drop that club and helmet next to me, then go stand way over there. That should give me a bit more of an advantage once I stop playing."

Kain just nodded and complied.

Edge got a glimpse of the dragoon's face as he ran across the field and thought it looked unusually sickly, but he just chalked it up to distress and poor lighting. Once Kain stood in position at the farthest side of the visible clearing, Edge dropped the harp, and with one hand drew the Masamune. With the other hand, he groped inside Cecil's bag. The dragoon approached faster than Edge expected. But, just in time, Edge withdrew three phoenix downs from the pack and shoved them in Kain's face.

Kain sneezed once, then started coughing. To Edge's surprise, the downs started glowing as they worked their magic, and then all the white feathers suddenly disappeared. Kain made a strange choking noise and fell over.

The witch shrieked shrilly like a banshee and ran away.


	16. The Chapter That Follows

_The final chapters! Yay!

* * *

_

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**16 - The Chapter That Follows the One That Came Before**

Edge surveyed the situation a bit detachedly. He poked around in Cecil's pack again, and determined there were two phoenix downs left. Sadly, he had left his behind before the first puzzle site at the behest of Rydia who complained that the dust was starting to make her sneeze. So now, before any monsters returned and tried to eat him, he had to decide whom to revive. His first thought was Rydia, but he knew her well enough to know that she would protest his wasting phoenix downs when the party already had a white mage.

So Edge stowed the spare set of feathers and helped Rosa wake up.

"G-nnngh," she responded in her typically eloquent fashion.

"Come on, Rosa – we're out of phoenix downs, and you've got to wake everyone up before something hungry shows up." Edge prodded the queen to her feet with an audacity that probably even he would not have quite dared if he were not a king himself.

Rosa staggered enough as she walked over and started helping Cid that Edge paused to grope around in his pack to inventory what he had in the way of healing supplies. Rustling in the woods interrupted his rustling in his pack, spurring him to settle for grabbing a precious elixir and quickly shove it into Rosa's hands.

By then Cid was sufficiently alert, already scanning the foggy edge of the forest for monsters. He glanced at Edge with a raised eyebrow, but instead of voicing whatever question was on his mind, he abruptly turned and struck hard the trunk of the nearest tree. An ugly, caterpillar-resembling-thing tumbled down, which Cid promptly sent flying through the forest with a well-placed golf swing.

While Edge was momentarily transfixed watching the engineer's form, Rosa had already awakened Rydia, and gone on to find Kain and her beloved Cecil lying in close proximity.

Rosa began chanting, but broke off suddenly as she heard something screech, "You are all doomed! You are in my power! I will destroy you all, one by one –!"

The air rippled, thunder rumbled, and a giant, fearsome dragon materialized in the clearing. When it released its magical assault, everyone was knocked backwards from the force, and the air was briefly too illuminated for anyone to see what was going on.

After a long moment, the light faded, the dust cleared, and the clearing had more than quadrupled in size due to the magical volley released in the direction of the witch.

"You know, I love Bahamut as much as the next adventurer," Edge piped up. "But, wasn't that a bit . . . overkill?"

"There's no such thing as overkill," Rydia replied sweetly.

Rosa shook her head, and started again chanting to revive Cecil.

As soon as he awoke, he sprang to his feet. He looked all around the clearing, noting briefly all his companions' welfare, then his eyes lighted on the prone dragoon. "Kain?" Then, to Rosa, he asked, "What happened?"

Rosa just shrugged, and focused on her chanting. Like usual, a shimmering aura of gold surrounded Kain. But then, nothing else happened. Rosa frowned, then immediately began a stronger spell. The aura around Kain flared nearly white, but then faded with no other effect. Rosa's frown deepened.

Cecil noticed Rosa's expression and became alarmed. He rolled his friend onto his back and started at the sickly green hue of Kain's face. "What did you do!" he demanded of the whole group, not quite sure who to blame.

"Eh?" Edge jogged over and froze as he finally realized the implications of Kain's unnatural hue. "All I used were phoenix downs . . . that witch must have turned him undead . . ."

Rosa's eyes widened, and she swiftly attempted the esuna cure. As with the other spells, the magic activated, but had no visible effect on Kain. "Cecil . . . I'm sorry . . . I don't know how to reverse this . . ." Her voice broke and trailed off into silence.

Cecil knelt down, looked at Kain, then he stared down at the spot of ground before him for a long moment. Suddenly he smashed his fist into the ground. "Maybe I should have just left him alone. Maybe he would have found a way to do it himself."

"Cecil . . ." Rosa reached over and put an arm around her husband.

"I'm sorry, Cecil," Edge mumbled. "He almost killed you all. He was begging me to stop him . . ."

"I understand, Edge," Cecil said very, very quietly. He looked up into Rosa's eyes, noticed they were growing watery, then he quickly looked over into Kain's expressionless face.

"We should take that wretched armor off, at least," Rydia spoke up, still standing with Cid on guard against any monsters that might show up.

"Yeah . . ." Cecil with great reluctance touched the bone armor, only brushing his fingers along it as though afraid it might burn him. The clasps would not open, so Rosa and Edge helped him break them all and pry the armor off. They threw both halves of the white-bone breastplate aside, and Edge used one of his ninja tricks to light it on fire.

Cecil raised an eyebrow at the other king's behavior, but Edge grimaced and said, "It just felt vile."

"I agree," Rosa said with a shudder. "Dark magic of that sort just makes me ill."

Cecil glanced over at the flaming mass. "Was it enspelled then? I wonder what that witch meant it –"

"Hey, Cecil," Edge interrupted, sounding a bit more urgent than he usually did when he tried to talk over other people. "I think Kain looks less green."

Cecil looked. So did Rosa. She gasped, and launched straight into her strongest healing spell. Kain, and even Rosa briefly, glowed blindingly white. When the spell diminished, Kain shifted, grunted, then slowly opened his eyes.

Rosa hit Kain in the stomach, startling him and forcing him fully awake. Tears streamed openly from her eyes. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you've been!"

"What?" Kain gasped after finally getting his wind back.

"Kain . . ." Cecil started to speak, and immediately drew Kain's undivided attention. The king paused, unsure what to say. He blinked back the moisture building up in his eyes. ". . . I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

Edge grinned broadly. "Well now! You've certainly managed to put us all through a lot of trouble. Again."

"I'm really sorry. I . . ."

"Can we get off this blasted mountain now?" Cid interjected. "I've had more than my fill of it, and it sounds like the monsters are coming back."

"Certainly," Cecil wholeheartedly concurred. "Kain, can you . . . ?" Without really waiting for a response, Cecil helped his friend up to his feet, then slipped his shoulder under Kain's right arm to help support him.

"Just a minute!" Edge scrambled around in the mist for a moment. He found the Harp of Self Control and shoved it into Kain's left hand. "Okay, now we can go."

Kain grunted, sounding not overly pleased, but did not argue.

Cid shouldered Cecil's pack as well as his own, then Rydia iced the encroaching monsters for good measure. Rosa took a position on the left of Kain, in case Cecil needed help steadying the dragoon on the descent, and then the group departed the frozen, scorched, cursed clearing with mutual alacrity.


	17. The Ending

**Allergies and a Harp**

_by Maelstra_

**17 - The Ending, Though Perhaps Not a Conclusion**

"You're going to do what!" Kain's incredulity resonated loudly through the stone walls of Baron Castle.

Cecil sighed and started massaging his forehead. He had hoped his friend would see the necessity in this situation . . . but . . . "I'm sorry, Kain, but I have to agree with Cid. Until you can master the Song of Strength on your legendary harp, you're still a liability."

"But –! Cecil, don't you think this is really extreme!" Kain glanced over at Rydia and Edge standing at the far side of the room, but found no sympathy – only amusement.

Rosa placed her arm on Cecil's shoulder. "Well . . . just think of it this way, Kain: it will give you added motivation to learn faster." She smiled brightly, as though so doing would somehow make everything better.

"Ahem," Cecil awkwardly motioned for the duo of waiting guards to approach the throne. "Please escort Captain Highwind to the dungeon and lock him in the most secure cell."

The guards hesitated briefly, exchanged a quick glance, then took position to stand at either side of Kain. The dragoon, meanwhile, was staring stonily at the section of wall beyond Cecil's left shoulder, and refused to give comment.

"Kain . . . it's mostly for your own protection." Cecil shrugged as though helpless. "I'll have you released the moment you can adequately play the Song of Strength."

Kain released an indignant sigh, mumbled "Whatever you say, your majesty," then walked forward to take the Harp of Self-Control from Cecil's hands. An awkward moment passed during which Cecil's eyes jumped between the harp and Kain's face, and Kain meanwhile steadily stared at Cecil's feet.

Cecil motioned again, and the guards escorted Kain from the throne room. He sighed loudly and appealed to Rosa, "It won't take him very long, right?"

"I don't know," Edge butted in. "If his practicing on the airship was any indication –"

"But he doesn't have to get it perfect, does he?" Cecil turned and cut Cid off sharply, "And, don't try to tell me about policy about disciplining knights and so forth – I don't want to hear it right now. Especially given the circumstances."

* * *

Ten hours later, Kain continued to sit on the cell bench, numbly plucking at the harp strings. He had nothing better to do, after all. Cecil had ordered a standing watch for him, but after listening to a few minutes of his playing, all the guards had taken position as far away from Kain's cell as they could get. Edge had visited briefly to slip Kain a pick for the harp, but then snuck off without giving any explanation of how to use it. Kain tried, but could not decide whether or not the little chip was actually helping his playing, anyway.

Kain's left hand started cramping again, so he laid the harp on the floor, and lay himself down on the bench to take another nap.

The rattling of the cell lock awoke him. He had slept some number of hours, and so felt rather groggy upon awakening. "What is it?" he asked, yawning in the middle. "Did Cecil decide I could just stay in my room instead?"

The guard did not answer. He opened the door, stowed the keys at his waist, then drew his sword.

"Uh . . . that's really not necessary. I'm unarmed, you know . . ." Kain stood up warily.

The guard lunged forward, his sword striking the stone wall in the space previously occupied by Kain's torso.

Kain smacked the guard on the back of the head, which failed to stun him but did at least distract him for a moment. In that moment, Kain snatched the other's sword, and used the pommel to hit him again. This time the guard lost consciousness and fell onto Kain's feet.An odd little winged creature, with one enormous eye in the middle of its forehead, flew down the hall, crooning a singsongy melody. As this was not a commonplace sight in the castle, Kain concluded that the creature was likely to blame for both the one guard's strange behavior, and the disappearance of all the other guards. Kain vastly preferred using a spear to a sword, but could still manage adequately. His hands still ached from too many hours attempting to play a harp, but after several hits with the blade, he succeeded in dispatching the annoying little thing.

Pausing only for a second to snatch up the harp as well, Kain sprinted up the castle stairs. He found several other guards, unconscious, along the way. As he burst into the throne room, he ran straight into Cecil, who had an oddly dazed look on his face. As soon as Cecil noticed Kain, he drew the Excalibur.

"Uh oh." Kain jumped up over Cecil, but because of his haste jumped a little too high and bumped his head on the ceiling. He landed alright, but his head began throbbing. A trio of the strange, crooning, cyclopean creatures flew in a continual circle around the throne room. Kain's eyes would not focus completely yet, but he managed to thwap two of the monsters with his sword hard enough to make them stop singing. Then Cecil grabbed him, and Edge pried the sword out of his hand.

Reflexively, Kain swung at Edge with his right hand, forgetting that he still held the harp. The strings twanged at the impact, and Edge took a reflexive step back. Kain squirmed out of Cecil's grip, then as the final creature flew past, Kain clocked it in the face with the harp. It squawked, then dropped with a final thud.

Immediately, Kain turned and started poking Cecil. "Wakey, wakey, your majesty."

"Huh?" Cecil came alert quickly. With a puzzled look on his face, he noted his drawn sword and immediately sheathed it. Then he finally recognized Kain's presence. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you, of course." Kain grinned widely, thoroughly pleased with himself. "I'm the only one in the castle that's immune to these creatures' mind control."

"What!" Edge sputtered, then stopped in confusion as his fingers found the new sore spot on the side of his head.

Cecil kicked one of the creatures at his feet, and it crumbled away into dust, the way certain monsters sometimes did. He stepped back to permit Rydia to blast the remaining two with fire, then asked everyone present, "Where did these things come from?"

"coughplotholecough." Rydia brushed off invisible grime from touching the creatures.

Edge glanced over at her, confused. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

Kain, still grinning smugly, went over and poked Edge in the shoulder. "Now, weren't you saying something on the moon about ninjas being more resistant to confusion?"

Edge narrowed his eyes at the dragoon. "So what? Everyone can get caught by those spells sometimes. At least that's a lot better than, say, having severe reactions to certain . . . healing items . . ."

"Now, you –"

"Edge, will you please knock it off, for once?" Rydia glowered at the ninja, hands on her hips.

Edge raised an eyebrow. "Of course, milady. Especially since you asked so nicely . . ."

"So, this means I'm out of the dungeon for good, right?" Kain happily turned his back on the ninja and started wheedling Cecil.

"Well, yes . . ." Cecil automatically looked around for Cid, then remembered that the engineer had gone home a few hours ago. "We'll work out the official details later, but as far as I'm concerned, you now have your old position back as captain of the dragoons."

In the background, Edge and Rydia continued their conversation, and Rydia abruptly started giggling.

"Thank you, your majesty." Kain bowed slightly to Cecil.

"And please stop calling me 'your majesty.' I keep wanting to look over my shoulder for the old king of Baron."

"Like it or not, you are king now. You'll have to learn to take it sooner or later."

"Yes, but I don't want to have to take it from you."

"Hey, Cecil?" Edge interrupted, grabbing the king's arm. "I'm a good dancer, right? You saw me dancing at your wedding . . ."

While Cecil made a strange face as he tried to think of ways to get out of answering Edge's question, Rosa cleared her throat and interrupted everybody. "Excuse me. Don't you think that someone should make sure there aren't any more of these creatures in the castle or the city?"

"Well, aren't we lucky to have someone –" Edge slapped Kain on the back – "who is immune to their spell?"

Kain rolled his eyes. "Ri-ight. I think I'd like some armor, first. And a better weapon than this harp."

"Why don't you just play the harp?" Rosa suggested. "That might make the rest of us immune as well."

"Sorry, your majesty." Kain said as he displayed his blistered fingers. "But, I don't think I can. Edge could play, though."

"Um, no. I . . . don't play."

"Yes you do! You were playing it in that cursed forest!"

"I – you have no witnesses!"

"Edge," Rydia growled. "Just play the stupid harp."

"If it pleases you, my love."

"Don't call me 'your love'."

"Whatever!" Cecil drew the Excalibur, grabbed Kain by the arm, and then marched out the door, dragging his friend with him. Rydia smirked back at Edge and gave him a you're-not-going-to-let-them-have-all-the-fun-are-you look, then followed Rosa out into the corridor.

Left in an empty room, all by himself, Edge shrugged and retrieved Kain's forgotten sword, then drew his Masamune as well. "Wait for me!" He ran outside to catch up with the others.

**The End

* * *

**

_And that's the end. So, what did you think? I considered ending the story by leaving Kain in the dungeon, but decided that after all the abuse I'd put him through, he deserved a happy ending._

_Oh, and if you found the title confusing, all I meant was that this feels like it could go straight into a sequel, but I doubt I would write one. Hopefully you'll agree that I ended this at a point that it stands alone well._

_Final thanks again to Dragonlover, Katmillia, and Mythweaver1. I really appreciated your encouragement and suggestions!_

_And now, I really need some sleep, so I'll wish you all a good night!_


End file.
